Woo Hoo! My samples from Samovar arrived today! I ordered several samples, this is the first one that I’m going to try…
As the package does suggest and since it worked so well with the Vinegar tea that I tasted earlier, I chose to pre-rinse this tea, and then steep at a lower temperature for 3 minutes.
The aroma is amazing. The dry leaves remind me very much of a flowery Oolong. However, when it’s brewed, the liquor is buttery, nutty, earthy, floral, fruity with a nice note of muscatel that I adore in a Darjeeling – but I don’t ever recall noticing in an Oolong! Remarkable! There is also a savory cocoa note to this tea’s fragrance. This may very well be one of the best smelling “unflavored” teas I’ve ever had the opportunity to smell. (It always seems weird to me to refer to teas as “unflavored” as I have found such remarkable complexity of flavors within a high quality “unflavored” tea)
And it tastes incredible! I am not going to suggest that it’s my favorite Oolong but it is an extraordinary Oolong that I really like a lot. So much, in fact, that I may just have to break down and purchase a larger quantity of these leaves.
A delightful Oolong – I look forward to many great infusions with this one!
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My second and third infusions proved to be just as delightful as the first… perhaps even more so!
Five infusions! As I sip my fifth infusion, I find that the flavors are a bit less potent than they were in the previous infusions – it’s still quite delicious, but the flavor of this infusion signals me that the leaves have given up the best of what they have to give me. I hope I’ll find time tomorrow to try another Samovar sample!
My second and third infusions proved to be just as delightful as the first… perhaps even more so!
Five infusions! As I sip my fifth infusion, I find that the flavors are a bit less potent than they were in the previous infusions – it’s still quite delicious, but the flavor of this infusion signals me that the leaves have given up the best of what they have to give me. I hope I’ll find time tomorrow to try another Samovar sample!